Clark County commissioners have asked their legal staff to review the federal government’s recent decision to allow the Cowlitz Tribe to establish a reservation near La Center.
Last week during executive session, commissioners directed county Chief Civil Deputy Prosecutor Bronson Potter to review the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ 118-page record of decision. The document addresses a wide range of concerns raised by groups opposing the Cowlitz’s application to establish a 152-acre reservation and build a $510 million casino-hotel complex at the Interstate 5 junction near La Center.
Commissioners will meet with Potter in executive session today to review their options. The executive session is closed to the public, but any action would occur during open session, County Administrator Bill Barron said. The commissioners have a regularly scheduled board time following the executive session.
Vancouver resident Ed Barnes questioned the board’s intentions regarding the Cowlitz decision at the board’s Tuesday meeting. Barnes said he heard a rumor the commissioners intended to appeal the BIA decision and asked whether that was the case.
Commissioner Tom Mielke initially answered “yes” and said the commissioners asked legal staff for advice. But later, Commissioner Marc Boldt clarified that the board has only asked staff to review the decision. The commissioners have not decided what, if any, action to take, he said.
“We don’t even know what the decision means,” Boldt said. “First we have to read the (BIA) decision to make a decision.”
Barnes, a retired electricians’ labor union leader, chided the commissioners for opposing the BIA decision. For the last two years, commissioners have cut benefits, laid off workers and cut services to citizens and haven’t done anything to create jobs, Barnes said.
The casino would bring construction and service jobs to a county with 13 percent unemployment, he said.
“If this was a private developer, you would welcome them with open arms,” Barnes said.
Barnes urged the commissioners to let other groups fight the Cowlitz decision. Representatives for the four nontribal cardrooms in La Center and the Grand Ronde Tribe, which runs Spirit Mountain Casino 60 miles southwest of Portland, have already announced plans to fight the BIA decision.
Mielke said legal staff will advise the board as to what role Clark County should play.
“We believe Clark County is definitely going to be affected one way or another,” he said. “We need to be a player going forward.”
The La Center City Council is also awaiting advice from its attorney before making a decision on how to proceed.
The city’s attorney, Dan Kearns, will review the record of decision with the council at a workshop Jan. 19. The council will then retreat into executive session to discuss how the city plans to move forward.
The council does not accept public comments during workshops.
